| Wed - 9th MAR 2005 |
| 'Road to Rome' |
| I'm taking a holiday to spend four days in Rome (one day will be spent
just for moving.) I have been to Spain, France, Germany, etc. but not Italy
that I've been desperate to visit. It will be great but I'm not sure if
I can tell the story because I will be too busy to start packing next week... |
 |
| Tue - 8th MAR 2005 |
| 'How to keep awake in a piano recital' |
| This will be the last concert in the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. For the
first time here, I listened to Piano Solo concert. Then as usual, I fell
in a sleep... I don't know why but it always makes me sleepy. Mind you,
I had a cold so I coudn't help it particularly today. Piano is a wonderful instrument having wide expressions rather than any others. It is remarkable as it can produce a perfect music by itself. But... somehow I feel asleep however fantastic a performance is. Please tell me how to keep awake! |
|
| Mon - 7th MAR 2005 |
| 'SOBA party' |
| The end of my training is coming near. I have been looked after privately by a man working in a concert hall. I cannot express how nice he has been to me. Without hime I couldn't have enjoyed my life in Liverpool as it was. SOBA party is a part of my appliciation to him by cooking SOBA, typical Japanese noodle. By chance, my Dad sent me the ingredients which were perfect except for WASABI like a kind of horseradish. Unfortunately I didn't have a time to find out one but still being glad that he seemed to be pleased with the Japanese noodle. |
|
| Sun - 6th MAR 2005 |
| 'Cooking for two by two' |
| Since I started living on my own, I have cooked for myself and by myself.
But I realised, cooking for two people by two people is much easier than
that and more importantly enjoyable! Especially, I learnt cooking on my
own, so there must be something very strange. If you cook with the others,
you can correct them. If both of them are wrong... never mind! Recently, I'm fascinated by cooking. I don't have appropriate measures so nobody knows how tastes going to be. For me, it's really exciting and I enjoy encouraging my imagination to produce a good harmony of flavours. Anyway, we made a white chicken stew which was not bad at all but something wrong. I suppose, we used less flower and less salt... but it didn't as we could eat happily! |
|
| Sat - 5th MAR 2005 |
| 'Railway?' |
| In the morning, we never knew how the trip was going to be... We moved to Rydal Church near Ambleside after having taken a short look on the market in Keswick. The weather was not very nice but not too bad. Then, we started a light walking around White Moss. On the way to the top of a hill, something was becoming wrong. The wind got stronger and finally blowing madly. To make matters worse, it started hailing, sometimes raining. We actually got to the top but no later than that, retreated. It was a bit pity that we couldn't enjoy the view, but it was somehow funny when I remind myself. On the way back home, we were suffered from British railway's engineering work. I believe they are using the term for an excuse of cancellations. Although we bought a railway ticket from Lancaster to Liverpool, we took bus replacement services almost all the way changing three times... It was far from convinient... Anyway, going back home, we had a Chinese take away dinner and got to sleep feeling exhausted. |
|
| Fri - 4th MAR 2005 |
| 'Keswick, the North of the Lake District' |
| A railway departed from Liverpool heading toward Penrith where a bus is
going to Keswick, the biggest city in the North Lake District. I've been
to the Lake District twice but only the South by car. If you take train,
the trip becomes quite different. I think, car is useful but it cannot
replace train. There is something that makes you feel more local and I
do like it. It's in March and yet bitterly cold. In fact, we could see snowy mountains which appeared to me very severe as if I were in a different place from moderate British countryside. On the other hand, the air was fresh and transparent so that I could refresh myself. There is a Stone Circle which is similar to the Stonehenge in Salisbury, a bit smaller though. Unlike the famous stones, you can get close to the Stone Circle in Keswick or rather sit down having lunch (that's what we did.) As I was disappointed with the strict control of the Stonehenge, the Stone Circle attracted me so much. Then, we were luckily offered a lift by a man who seemed to like communication with tourists and got down to the lake. Afterwards, we climbed a hill known as one of the best viewpoints. The view was just amazing! It jumped into our eyes suddenly when we managed to reach the top of the hill. |
|
| Thu - 3rd MAR 2005 |
| 'Liverpool Tour' |
| I showed around Liverpool for my guest who arrived yesterday. Then surprisingly,
I did enjoy it for myself because we found a lot more interesting spots
this time. First of all, this was the first time to tour Liverpool during
weekdays. I've visited so many times but always for weekend, so most of
the buildings were closed. Particularly I loved the inside of the pier
head buildings. A reception clerk in the Cunard Building who gave us a
tour guide talked his trip to Japan very excitingly. For another, we took
the ferry to go across the River Mersey for the first time looking a fantastic
view and realising how wide the river is. The interior of Town Hall was
also magnificent. Wherever we went, we were always welcomed, which relly
impressed me. I assume, this will be the last tour of Liverpool, so I'm so delighted having found a coupld of new faces of this city. |
